| Eobalaenoptera Temporal range: middleMiocene | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeleton, Caroline County, Virginia | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Genus: | †Eobalaenoptera Dooley, Fraser & Luo, 2004 |
| Species: | †E. harrisoni |
| Binomial name | |
| †Eobalaenoptera harrisoni Dooley, Fraser & Luo, 2004 | |
Eobalaenoptera is an extinct genus ofbaleen whale belonging toBalaenopteroidea.
Eobalaenoptera was first described in June 2004 by researchers at theVirginia Museum of Natural History from a partial skeleton found in 1990 inCaroline County, Virginia, the site of a prehistoric ocean, in the middleMioceneCalvert Formation. The 11 m (36 ft) skeleton proved to have similar morphological characteristics to aclade ofwhales consisting of two moderntaxonomicfamilies—Balaenopteridae (therorquals) andEschrichtiidae (a family with one surviving species, thegray whale).
The age of the Calvert Formation (14 million years) makesEobalaenoptera the oldest-known member of Balaenopteroidea by three to five million years. It also considerably narrowed the gap between the earliest-knownfossil record and estimated time of divergence of this clade from other baleen whales. Molecular clocks have put this divergence for balaenopteroids from other crown mysticetes by 15–20 million years.[1][2]
In their review of extant and fossil rorquals, Demere et al. (2005) questioned the balaenopteroid placement ofEobalaenoptera, noting that the holotype lack substantial cranial material that could reinforce its original classification, preferring to treat the genus as Chaeomysticetiincertae sedis.[3]
The genus nameEobalaenoptera reflects the similarities between this skeleton and species in the genusBalaenoptera such as theminke whale;eo- is a prefix meaning dawn. The species is named after Carter Harrison, a volunteer worker at the museum.
